THE wonder herb from the LittleAndamans - home to the Onge fribalsfound to be a sure-fire antidote to thedeadly malarial parasite Plasmodiumfalciparum, remains in zthe eye of the storm (Down To, Earth" Vol 4i No 16) 'And the imbroglio continues even asstate governments in various parts ofthe country desperately look out forways to, combat the ever-growingmalaria menace.
The -Indian, Council- of Medical'Research Centre, (ICMRC) is defendingthe director of its regional, branchat Port Blair, S C Sehgal, who hasbeen accused by the environmentalistlobby of trying to claim a patent on thedrugs developed from the herb's extractin his name - thereby depriving the.Onges, the actual providers of theknowledge.
In late 1995, D Chattopadhya, ascientist 'with the Regional MedicalResearch Centre (PmAc), a subsidiarybody of the 1CMR at Port BlaiA@ discovered this plant while working at theOnge settlement. He was intrigued by aparticular property of the herb which isfairly commonly used by the Onges formedicinal purposes: the extract fromthe herb made the users resistant tomalaria.
Chattopadhya published his findings in the icMR journal. His director,however, sent a draft patent applicationto the 1CMR headquarters in New Delhi,with his name heading the list of twoscientists who were the inventors of theanti-bacterial properties of the plant.Chattopadhya's.name appeared as oneof them, but no mention whatsoeverwas made of the contribution made bythe Onges.
When local green campaigners,headed by the Society for Andaman &Nicobar Ecology (SANE), got wind of it,they were determined to take thebattle to the mainland to assert therights of the Onges. Environmentalactivists in the capital were alertedand the isssue featured prominentlyin the press. At the initiative ofsome supporters, a letter was dashed offto the director general of the 1CMR,requesting her to look into the issue toensure, that Chattopadhya, who fromthe outset disfavoured the patent, wasnot victimised',by, his@ senior-, and ' ofcourse, to see that justice was meted outto the Onges.
in response to, this, LalitKant, deputy director general ofthe ICMR,,has assured that hisorganisation is "aware that theissue of Intellectual PropertyRight of patenting plants andtheir products for their medicinal properties calls for carefulconsideration". But in this particular case there is no cause foralarm as the studies are in a verypreliminary stage, andnowhere near the phase ofpatenting", says Kant.
The pro-Onge campaignersare faffrom happy. "If this istrue, then why did Sehgal prepare the draft patent application?" asks Samir Acharya ofSANE, who has been managingthe ftont tanks of the protestingenvironmentalists. He is also>@ convinced that Sehgal was, infaci, following a well thought out strategy. Chattopadhya's abstract for the 1CMRjournal included his name along with BK Sinha's, another scientist who workedin the same field. But when it was placedbefore Seligal, he allegedly struck offSinha's name and pushed his own on top.
As scientists, bureaucrats andactivists fight out their turf wars, thereal issue remains, puresolved. TheConvention on Biologic ,A Diversityentrus@ts the responsibility of ensuringadequate, recognition and reward. tothe Onges, to the national government.Acharya said threateningly, "We donot wish. to take the. tortuous path oftaking@ the issue to the media oreven Parliament. But we would not shyof such alpath,i,f wehlave to prove ourallegations."